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Coherent scattering of an electron beam by the Kapitza-Dirac effect from a standing laser wave which comprises two frequency components is studied. To this end, the Schrödinger equation is solved numerically with a suitable ponderomotive potential. Besides, an analytical solution for electron diffraction in the asymptotic domain of large field amplitudes is obtained and a mathematical model in reduced dimensionality for the scattering amplitude in the Bragg regime is presented. We demonstrate distinct interference signatures and relative phase effects when the standing wave contains a fundamental frequency and its second harmonic. The influence of the relative field intensities on the Rabi oscillation dynamics is also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Production of electron-positron pairs by a high-energy probe photon propagating through a high-intensity laser field is considered in the nonperturbative interaction regime. The laser field consists of a strong low-frequency and a weak high-frequency component. While for each component alone photoproduction of pairs is strongly suppressed, we show that their combination can largely amplify the pair production probability by facilitating to bridge the energetic barrier of the process. Our predictions can be tested by utilizing presently available high-intensity laser devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the creation of electron-positron pairs in the superposition of a nuclear Coulomb field and a two-color laser field of high intensity. Our focus lies on quantum interference effects, which may arise if the two laser frequencies are commensurable. We show that the interference manifests in the angular distributions of the created particles, which are discussed in the nuclear rest frame and the laboratory frame. Additionally, we demonstrate that the total pair-production rates can be affected by interference and identify the relative phase between the two laser modes, which optimizes the pair-production yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Helicity transfer in electron-positron pair production by a relati vistic proton colliding with an intense laser beam of circular polarization is studied. The pairs are produced nonlinearly via absorption of few laser photons. Our approach relies on the laser-dressed description of the leptons by relativistic Volkov states and the spin-projection formalism. We calculate spin-resolved production rates, differential in the energy and emission angle of one of the created leptons. The degree of longitudinal polarization is shown to depend on the number of laser photons involved, even when the total energy and momentum absorbed from the laser field is kept constant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photoionization of an atom via interatomic correlations to N neighboring atoms may be strongly enhanced due to constructive interference of quantum pathways. The ionization proceeds via resonant photoexcitation of a neighbor atom and subsequent interatomic Coulombic decay. The enhancement can scale with N², leading to "superenhanced photoionization." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spin-dependent Kapitza-Dirac scattering of electron beams from counterpropagating bichromatic laser waves in various polarization geometries is studied. The corresponding scattering probabilities are obtained by analytical and numerical solutions of the time-dependent Dirac equation, assuming a field frequency ratio of 2. When the fundamental field mode is circularly polarized, we show that spin dynamics are generally suppressed at low intensities but can become distinct at high intensities. Conversely, when a linearly or elliptically polarized fundamental mode is combined with a second harmonic of circular polarization, strong spin effects arise already at low field intensities. In particular, a polarization configuration is identified which acts as a spin filter for free electrons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A quantum theoretical description of photoemission by a single laser-driven electron wave packet is presented. Energy-momentum conservation ensures that the partial emissions from individual momentum components of the electron wave packet do not interfere when the driving field is unidirectional. In other words, light scattering by an electron packet is independent of the phases of the pure momentum states comprising the packet; the size of the electron wave packet does not matter. This result holds also in the case of high-intensity multiphoton scattering. Our analysis is first presented in the QED framework. Since QED permits the second-quantized entangled electron-photon final state to be projected onto pure plane-wave states, the Born probability interpretation requires these projections to be first squared and then summed to find an overall probability of a scattering event. The QED treatment indicates how a semiclassical framework can be developed to recover the key features of the correct result. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kapitza-Dirac scattering of nonrelativistic electrons from counterpropagating bichromatic laser waves of linear polarization is studied. The focus lies on the electronic spin dynamics in the Bragg regime when the laser fields possess a frequency ratio of 2. To this end, the time-dependent Pauli equation is solved numerically, both in coordinate space and momentum space. Our numerical results are corroborated by analytical derivations. We demonstrate that, for certain incident electron momenta, the scattering crucially relies on the electron spin which undergoes characteristic Rabi-like oscillations. A parameter regime is identified where the Rabi oscillations reach maximum amplitude. We also briefly discuss spin-dependent Kapitza-Dirac scattering of protons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A relativistic description of the Kapitza-Dirac effect in the so-called Bragg regime with two and three interacting photons is presented by investigating both numerical and perturbative solutions of the Dirac equation in momentum space. We demonstrate that spin flips can be observed in the two-photon and the three-photon Kapitza-Dirac effects for certain parameters. During the interaction with the laser field the electron's spin is rotated, and we give explicit expressions for the rotation axis and the rotation angle. The off-resonant Kapitza-Dirac effect, that is, when the Bragg condition is not exactly fulfilled, is described by a generalized Rabi theory. We also analyze the in-field quantum dynamics as obtained from the numerical solution of the Dirac equation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]